ABUSE OF MEMORY, THE

ABUSE OF MEMORY, THE

    Price: $310.00

    Code: 1219

    Examines the phenomenon of Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) by recounting the life of Rachel Downing who, for the last eight years, has been under the care of Dr. Richard Loewenstein, former president of the International Society for the Study of Multiple Personality Dissociation. The film is an in-depth and compellingly dramatic case study of the nature of MPD, revealing its impact on Rachel, her family and friends, as well as the controversy it has aroused within the medical community. Videotapes of sessions with Downing's first therapist, Dennis Jaffe, show how he aided her in "recovering" memories of childhood sexual abuse by her father, memories she was unaware of when she began therapy. By illuminating the nature and mechanisms of human memory and the role of suggestion in therapy, this provocative and beautifully-crafted film questions the popular assumptions about "repressed memories," the development of amnesia in response to traumatic events, and the very basis for the diagnosis of MPD.

    Directed by Ilan Flammer
    1994, 84 minutes
    Purchase: $310 | Classroom Rental: $125



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    Reviews

        Highly Recommended "Production values are very good...includes interviews with...experts on both sides of the MPD issue...sympathetic to both accusers and the accused, even though it ultimately questions the validity of recovered memories."--Video Rating Guide for Libraries

       "...a bizarre odyssey from the sort-of-understandable to the real fringes of current pop psychology. Recommended."--Video Librarian

    "...a riveting production...A spellbinding profile of mental illness and a personal portrait of a controversial topic."--Booklist (American Library Association)